The Second Archmage
by ME100200
Summary: Redgar was just a blacksmith's blacksmith, before a letter from a mysterious eladrin named Arimal informs him that his master, Ironblade, is dead, and invites him to study magic. A mysterious plot about Torog unravels, and it seems Regdar is a powerfull entity, an Archmage. The second one, actually.
1. Chapter 1: Regdar and Arimal

In the town of Fallcrest, in the natural world, a human pounded on an anvil, making a sword. The steam fumed from the bellows, but the human was taught to forget the heat. His name was Regdar Flashfire. He had long dark hair, and wore a blacksmith apron. Though he was only 15, he was the blacksmith's apprentice, and worked at the only blacksmith shop in Fallcrest, it was small, but it made steady business.

Regdar heard a knock at the door. When he went to get it he saw only a ghostly blue hand. Then he noticed a hooded stranger in black. He was pointing a very long wooden stick with a curl at the end, a staff, at the hand. He moved the staff upward and the hand disappeared.

"Hello," the stranger said in a soft, mysterious voice.

"What do you need," Regdar said, "we have plenty of long and short swords, and a battle axe or 2."

" I am looking for, ahhh, living resources. Are you the owner of this shop?" The stranger asked.

"No," Regdar answered.

"Hmm, take this to your master." The stranger said, and a paper appeared in his hand, then flew into Regdar's. Regdar looked at it, puzzled.

"It is blank," he noted.

"Not for your master," The stranger said. "Tell him I am Arimal." Then Arimal disappeared.

"Arimal is an Eladrin name," thought Regdar," what does an Eladrin want with my master?" Regdar continued making the sword, while thinking about this.

A Dwarf by the name of Ironblade owned the shop. Ironblade had a long beard and wore chainmail armor with runes on it to make it very light.

He was walking to the shop that evening, when suddenly he heard the sound of feet running around. Ironblade unsheathed a longsword that glowed with pure energy. He had been attacked before, and he was ready.

Suddenly he felt a huge burst of pain in his back. An arrow was stuck in it. The arrow had a rune on its point and Ironblade recognized it, _Armor Piercer_,a goblin enchantment. Suddenly another arrow narrowly missed his head.

"COME OUT COWARDS!" Ironblade yelled. A rain of arrows appeared above Ironblade.

The next day the people of the town saw stains of blood on the street, but nothing else.

Regdar saw something far more interesting, however. The paper he was supposed to give to Ironblade was glowing green and had writing on it. It said:

_Dear Regdar,_

_I am afraid to tell you that if you are reading this, Ironblade is dead. I invite you to come over to Septarch's Tower and study with me. You will learn many things in the ways of magic._

_From, Arimal_

Regdar looked over this. He couldn't believe it. Ironblade, dead? He decided to go to the tower. On his way he didn't understand one thing. The tower was not used anymore, though it was a wizard's tower before the Bloodspear war, it was empty now.

When he got there Arimal was standing outside. He had his hood down now and Regdar could see his face. He had green Eyes with no pupils. He also had long blond hair.

"So I was right," Regdar thought, "he is Eladrin."

"Come," Arimal said, "we must talk." Arimal went in and Regdar got a good look at the tower. It was old and dusty, and had a rune over the doorway. When Regdar looked inside, the stairs were moving and a door appeared, but there was no room for a room there. Regdar shrugged. A lot had happened, and he was ready to believe anything. He went up the stairs.


	2. Chapter 2: Theren and Cracktow

As Regdar entered the room behind the door he was blasted by a roar of noise. The room was filled with bookshelves, and when someone said a book's name, the book flew off the bookshelf and into their hand. There were at least 20 people in this room, maybe more, and they were all talking. On the ends of the room there were more doors, even one going back where Regdar had come from. Arimal yelled, "Spellbook!" and a new spell book zoomed into his hands. He handed it to Regdar. Arimal said, "I have wished to give this to you for a very long time Regdar. You see, Ironblade was my friend and he talked to me about you. I realized you were fit to be a wizard. Then I learned that goblins had gotten into Fallcrest. Ironblade had killed many goblins. I tried to warn him. I was too late. Foreseeing this I put a different enchantment on the paper. It was not that only Ironblade could read it, but the owner of the shop could. If the owner changed, I inscribed it with a different message, one that would tell you Ironblade was dead."

Regdar thought about this as he worked hard to become a wizard. He studied many things, such as why the rules of physics were wrong, and how space-time distortion will never destroy the world, but it always came back into his head. He realized after much study that ownership is passed down. This can happen when the owner wishes it, or when he dies. What if Ironblade isn't dead?

One day Arimal sent Regdar into the forest. "There are runes in a cave there that I need. Please get them and bring them back." Arimal said.

Regdar went into the forest with his orb, the only implement available. It was made of green crystal and had a cloud spiraling from inside it. The forest was dark, and had tall trees and lots of grass. Regdar heard feet moving around the grass. He looked in the direction it came from, but didn't see anything, only trees and tall grass.

"Tall grass?" Regdar thought, "that wasn't there before!" Suddenly a green humanoid wearing chainmail came out of it. It had pointed ears, not elf ones but sinister ones, and it wielded a battle axe. "Goblin!" Regdar said, holding up his orb. Then another goblin came out. And another, and another, and another! Soon there was at least 60 goblins surrounding Regdar. He froze with shock. All hope seemed lost, he couldn't fight this many.

Suddenly a hand axe came twirling through the sky. It hit a goblin in the head. A small man jumped from a ledge and did a spin mid-air with his battle axe in his hand. He chopped with his axe straight through one of them, then kicked another in the head. He had a long beard and wore scale armor, forged from the scales of a dragon, Regdar guessed. He also had a sling around his waist.

"See that!?" He yelled in a gruff, annoyed voice, "Enemy! You KILL them, not STARE at them!"

"He's a dwarf," thought Regdar. Many of the goblins were retreating. One however, had his bow pointing at the dwarf. "Look out!" shouted Regdar, pointing at the goblin. The dwarf rushed to get him but missed and staggered. The goblin took out his dagger and held it above the dwarf. He was going to stab him! Then suddenly a sword came out of the goblin's stomach.

"HADF!" he cursed in goblin. The sword flew upward, slicing him in half.

"Sometimes," a peaceful voice said, "you would be wise to trade power for precision."

A man was standing there. He had 2 long swords in his hands and a short bow on his back. He had short blond hair. The oddest thing about him was he wore elven made leaf armor, but he was obviously human.

"I am Theren." He said.

"I'm Cracktow Hellbringer!" The dwarf said.

"Nice to meet you, I am Regdar Flashfire, apprentice wizard."

Suddenly Theren, who was the only one looking at Regdar, looked up and got a look of horror on his face.

"WHAT IN THE ABYSS!" Theren yelled, getting into a fighting stance.

Regdar suddenly felt a sharp pain in the back of his head and fell to the ground. He was just conscious enough to see Theren and Cracktow faint. Then he blacked out.


	3. Chapter 3: The Dark Kin

**Disclaimer: I do not own fallcrest or anything made by Dungeons and Dragons. All mortal characters, however are my own. (Meaning I use D&D's gods/primordials, but not other characters)**

When Regdar woke he was in a mossy dungeon. It was made of cobblestone and bars of steel. It had dim light and 2 doors on either side. Inside the cells was a cauldron of water and a bed made of iron. Regdar was inside the cell. He had no armor or weapons, and wore normal clothing. He looked to the right and left and saw Theren and Cracktow waking up.

"Hey!" Theren yelled to Cracktow and Redar. "Look closer outside!" Regdar looked and saw something that almost made him jump back in astonishment. A creature that looked like a pitch black imp with goblin ears slid out of the shadowy floor. "A shadow kin," Theren grumbled, "I thought they were all dead."

"Shadow what?" Cracktow called.

"Kin," Theren replied, "this one appears deaf and blind, but that makes him even more dangerous."

"NOT TO ME!" Cracktow yelled, banging on the bars. His foot touched a shadow and the shadow kin suddenly disappeared. It jumped out of the shadow at Cracktow's feet and clawed at him with sharp talons on his fingers. It then slid back into the shadows. "What the!" Cracktow yelled.

"As I was about to say," Theren said, "They have the power to sense in the shadows. Anything that touches a shadow they know about. As any normal impaired creature has the trait, one of its other senses is boosted. This is its shadow sense."

"Could have told us!" Cracktow said, clutching his bleeding arm.

"SHUT IT!" Regdar yelled, speaking for the first time, "We need to get out of here."

He looked around and saw a skeleton in the corner. It wore silk robes that were unwinding. Careful not to touch the shadows he removed the skeleton. He unwound the silk then grabbed a broken bar. He casted a simple spell that can be used without an implement to make metal flexible. He bent it into an arc and tied the silk to either side and gave it a tug. He had created a metal and silk bow. He took another broken bar and made it into the shape of an arrow. He gave them to Theren. "You have one shot," Regdar told him, "make it count."

Theren notched the arrow and let it fly. It hit the shadow kin straight in the forehead.

"Ok," said Theren, "now we have to get out of here."

"I think I found it," Regdar said, "there are bars right here that are painted darker than the others, to make it look like it's in the shadows." He pulled on the bars and they sprang out, opening the whole thing. He unlocked Theren and Cracktow's cells and they tried to open a door. Locked. "Hmm," Regdar said, looking at a cabinet. "I wonder..." He opened the cabinet and he was correct. Inside were wizarding tools. It had his orb! He grabbed it and pointed it at the door. "Ready!" He said, "Charge!" A whirring filled the air as the orb pulsed with energy. "Aim!" He lifted the orb and... before he shot the door exploded! 2 humanoids stood in the rubble. They had scaly skin and had the head of dragons. They both wore matching chain mail with glowing runes on it. One had on a broken crown. That one wielded a battle axe. The other wielded a glowing sword. The one with the sword put himself in a battle stance.

"No!" Regdar yelled, putting up his hands, "We don't mean harm!" But the stranger wasn't planning to hit them. He jumped over Regdar and slammed his sword straight through the shadow kin's heart. The shadow kin gave a shrill shriek and blew up in a purple powdery substance.

"That," He said in a humorous voice, while shaking off the powder, "is how you kill a dark kin."

"Pardon him," The one holding a battle axe said in a royal voice, "he forgets his manners. I am Megastomp and he is Balastar. We are on a quest sent by Arimal to save someone called, ummmm. Oh, yes, Regdar. Do you know him?"

"I am Regdar," answered Regdar.

"Flashfire?" Megastomp asked.

"Yes," he replied.

"Good," said Balastar, "makes the job a whole lot-" Suddenly a loud roar interrupted him. The wall burst open and Arimal came out, yelling and screaming loudly. Followed by a giant dragon made of pure darkness. It had pure black scales and icy cold wings. Then, a giant explosion appeared in front of everyone!


End file.
